Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Paris! One Minute Vacay: Dec. 5

Today's one minute vacation is sponsored by Paris. :)

I've never been to Paris, but I've watched plenty of movies featuring the gorgeous city, and I love books set there too. Ernest Hemingway brought 1920's Paris to life for me in his set of memoirs, A Moveable Feast. And Woody Allen's film, Midnight in Paris, while not my favorite story-wise, features beautiful sets of, you guessed it, Paris!

Ooo, this looks cold but delightful! To spend a day or seven in the Louvre? Yes, sign me up!

I would LOVE to see the Eiffel Tower at Christmastime. Lucky for me, someone did and took a picture! I feel as if I'm the one staring up at that incredible structure.

Paris wouldn't be complete without coffee and pastries. Drink up!

I don't know about you, but staring at these lovely Paris scenes makes me a little nicer, a little more relaxed, and ready to tackle my Wednesday.

Oh la la! Let me count the ways I love Paris. I visited Paris the week of the Centennial of the Eiffel Tower. It was CRAZY. I was in high school, so I'm not sure I got to appreciate Paris for the amazing city it is.

I have been to Paris and it was beautiful. I was only there for four days, so not nearly enough time to drink it all in...but still. I think just four days, I ate about a dozen crepes. Haha! I was not as impressed by the Louvre as what I probably should've been...the Mona Lisa was so small! But it was still cool to be there. The Eiffel Tower was beautiful at night. I remember standing at the highest floor and looking out over the city. But I think my favorite was just walking along the river, seeing the street artists, Notre Dame in the background...and feeling a little chic for the first time in my life. :)

I went to Paris this past summer : ) I'm extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel a lot in my short twenty years. Anyway, my frist impression was...not so great. My sister and I were the only two that hadn't been to Paris before which was why we had gone (Mom, aunt, and grandparents have been before). We were like "uhhhh....this is it? The supposedly "best" city in the world?" It seemed dirty and just really sketchy considering I'd already been stalked by a man that day and we'd been coerced into spending way too much money on bracelets by Sacre Coeur lol. However, once we got to see different parts of the city, it ended up being much better : ) A couple tips:- They KNOW when you're a tourist. Even if you feel like you're dressing like a local, without opening your mouth, they know. Everytime.Lol- Make friends with the owner of the local patisserie! They've got lots of stories usually and may even give you a break on the prices if you keep coming back.- The very and I do mean VERY large snakes at Moulin Rouge can escape from their cages.- The Eiffel Tower is lit up like that every night, not just as Christmas time : )- The Mona Lisa really is as small as they say. But if you have someone in a wheelchair, you get up closer than anyone else lol!

So that's just a couple things. The metro is very easy to figure out - do it! Saves you tons of money. A lot of it is a tourist trap, but there are still parts that are beautiful....I mean it's PARIS! Haha I hope you get there someday, Jill! You'll have to make sure to tell us allllll about it : )Hannah

Hannah, I'm SO glad you shared all these great tips! Trust me, I look like a tourist in my own town--I would definitely stick out in Paris. I can't even attempt to get around that! But I will avoid the snake portion of the trip--yuck. Thanks so much!! I hope I do get there someday!

Hahahaha you crack me up :P Trust me, the snake thing was an accident. We wanted to go to the Folies Bergere but it was closed until like October well.....we were there in July LOL so we decided to take the big plunge into foreign food (duck pate stuff blech) and lots of nekkid bodies! But anyway, there was an act with a naked woman swimming with five HUUUUUGE anacondas I beleive they were? I don't remember, but anyway the floor opened up during the act prior to snake girl and the tank was waiting to be raised up and a snake slithered out into the audience. We were terrified! I'm sure it's harmless, but this thing was massive! We asked a security guard after (there is intense security before the theater) and he said it was a first at the Moulin Rouge lol! It certainly was an....experience for a group of snake haters :P I'd still really recommend the show! : )

I have been to Paris. I had to sneak a day trip in from my backpacking journey of the UK and Ireland. It was nice. We did see the Louvre and I was sad that the Mona Lisa was so small.

However, Winged Victory was massive and gorgeous! I could just picture Audrey Hepburn walking down those stairs in the red dress with the flowing scarf from "Funny Face." Lovely!

Great tips, Hannah! Another would be to learn a least basic phrases in French before you go. I'm a Spanish-speaker, but I took one French class in college and had to use my "brief" extent of the language to order at a cafe for our whole group.

I plan to have a travel post on my time in Paris up soon on my blog (www.pensonaworldmap.com). Happy travels everyone whether it's vicariously through others or not. :)

Actually, that's a really great tip, Morgan! We, too, had to use a lot of our basic French for ordering purposes. My sister, aunt, mom, and I all have at least a couple years of French classes under our belt, so we were okay :P But good idea! Hadn't thought of that! Lol

Jill Kemerer is a multi-published author of inspirational romance novels. Her essentials include coffee, fluffy animals, a stack of books and taking long
nature walks. Jill resides in Ohio with her husband and two almost-grown
children. She loves connecting with readers, so please visit her website, jillkemerer.com, and sign up for her newsletter.

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"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."